


Haircut

by Enchanters Nightshade (Abstract_Apotheosis)



Series: The Domestic (Mis)Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Julian Devorak [1]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: A little bit of angst, Bathing/Washing, But mostly two people being married, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Haircuts, I love domestic stuff, I might be wrong, I rate mature because that way I never have to worry about overstepping, Nudity, Some Swearing, Teasing, but mostly tooth rotting fluff, have fun, post-upright game ending, some suggestive tones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:21:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21562918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abstract_Apotheosis/pseuds/Enchanters%20Nightshade
Summary: Julian's hair was looking a little long, so of course, being a good wife, she offered to cut it. Shenanigans ensue.
Relationships: Apprentice/Julian Devorak
Series: The Domestic (Mis)Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Julian Devorak [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556962
Comments: 2
Kudos: 39





	Haircut

It wasn't until there were fingers carding through his hair did he realize she had snuck up on him. He jolted a bit, another blot of ink on his paper to go with the countless other inkblots he had done himself without any interference. He didn't turn around, simply lifted his pen and tilted his head back to the ministrations of her fingers, eyes shut in bliss. He gave her a small sound of appreciation as she pulled his head further back and rested against her chest as she continued.

"My darling doctor, it's time for you to be done." She murmured lowly, still raking her fingers through his curly auburn tresses, giving little massages against his scalp whenever her fingers lingered.

"Hmmm." He made a noncommittal tone, just leaning further back against her, relishing her touch, her closeness.

She laughed a bit, weaving her fingers still through his hair, but this time gently pull the strands to appraise them. "When is the last time you trimmed your hair, you are starting to look scruffy."

"More roguish than scruffy, I hope?"

"A shaggy one maybe. I like my dashing rogues well kempt." She corrected, leaning down to press a kiss to his throat.

He shivered at the unexpected kiss, his eyes opening in time to watch her right herself above him and stare unabashed into his eye. Her eyes were always so gentle when she looked at him and, for the life of him, he couldn't understand what he ever might have done to deserve such a woman in his life.

Seeing him staring up at her now, she leaned down again and pressed a kiss to his forehead. He frowned a bit, disappointed that she had yet kissed his lips, but she seemed to be in a teasing mood and often his lips were the last to be touched in her games, taunting him as he tried to right the injustice and being denied by the turn of a head or her escaping his hold. His darling, nimble little wife was difficult for him to catch at times. She tugged off his eye patch, pulling him from his sulking, and her hands untangled from his hair as she rested them on his shoulders.

"I think I need to rectify this. I can't have your patients thinking that your wife doesn't take care of you."

He let out a bark of laughter, clapping a hand to his stomach. "If you took any better care of me, I don't think I'd be fitting into these trousers anymore."

He was still slender, but his ribs no longer showed and he had a good amount of flesh he hadn't had when on the run or even before as a bachelor, where he had been responsible for remembering things like eating and sleeping. She spoiled him rotten- or so he thought.

"Are you denying me my pleasures?" She asked with a raised brow, that playful look in her gleaming ocher colored eyes. Her smile was lopsided and full of glee.

"I-I'd _n-never_." He stammered, his face quickly flushing as he looked away. He bite at his lip as he rested a hand on top of one of hers. He worked up the courage to tell her. She was always encouraging him to tell her how he was feeling."I … I simply don't think I will, uh, never be used to the idea that… you _spoiling_ me, well, uh…" She tilted his head with her free hand so he had to stare her in the eyes as he spoke. His face turned even hotter as he forced himself to continue on without too much pause. "It… it, ah, m-makes you happy… But! But, I should be doing things for you! Th-things to make you h-happy like-"

She interrupted him with a fast, hard kiss to his lips. She pulled back to watch him completely clam up, his neck and ears as pink as his face now.

"You letting me take care of you _makes_ me happy, Juli." She murmured quietly to him. "And it's not like my days with you aren't filled with bouquets of flowers and thoughtful gifts and _lavished_ attention. So stop telling me you contribute nothing to my happiness outside of me spoiling you. Okay?"

"O-okay."

"There's my good husband." She kissed his nose before patting his shoulders. "Now come along. I want to wash your hair and cut it before it gets too late." She wrinkled her nose as she examined him, running calloused fingers against his jaw. "And give you a shave. You're getting a little prickly."

"Can't have that, can we, _myshka_?" He nibbled on his lip as his looked up at her. "But-"

He squirmed a bit as her hands quickly snaked down to his sides to tickle him. Her lips whispering playfully, ticklishly into his ear. "Are you trying to steal my simple pleasures from me again?"

"N-No!" He stuttered out between guffaws. He seized her hands so he could catch his breath. "I-I… Oh... _Odelia_!" He gasped, a silly grin on his lips as he tried to regain his composure, but his wife seemed determined to escape his hold and tease him some more. " _Myshka_! P-Please!"

"Alright." She giggled in his ear. "What is it, my darling?"

"If… If I am getting my hair washed, then would it be _too_ out of the realm of possibilities to bathe with you instead? I'd like the chance to wash _you._ "

"I don't see why not." She drawled slowly into his ear before purposely blowing into it, causing him to squeal a bit. She righted herself as he rubbed his ear against his shoulder.

"You're such a tease!" He laughed.

"You're more of a tease than me!" She shot back as she yanked his chair back from the desk to help motivate him to get up. "I remember _perfectly_ well how our last bath ended."

"Oh no, whatever shall I do?" Julian asked her dramatically as he finally rose from the seat to stand in front of his little wife. A toothy smile on his face as he reached down to pinch at her cheeks. "My darling wife already knows how the scene plays out."

"Julian~!" She batted playfully at his hands, ones that moved to hold her by the shoulders, pulling her closer. She fidgeted for a moment, only because she knew what was coming next. She squealed as he tucked his hands under her arms and lifted her easily off her feet and into his hold. He begins to walk, heading back to their upstairs apartment over the shop now that he was done for the night.

"Come along, _myshka_ , your dashing rogue needs to meet your standards." She squealed his name when he rubbed his face against hers, his peach fuzz scratchy against her smooth skin. "And a bath with you sounds _heavenly_. Have either of us _borrowed_ bath salts from Nadia's stock recently."

"Gifted! She gifts it to us!"

"Mm _hmm_." He doesn't sound convinced. He blows in her ear, eliciting the same response in her that he had given. As she squirms in his hold, he holds her even tighter. "And Pasha can't cook."

"She did, Julian, I _swea-wahhh!_ " He pressed his fingers into the sides of her tummy, getting her to squirm and laugh uncontrollably in his arms. "No f-ah-ir Ily _ahhhh_ ~!"

"Oho? No fair? Darling _myshka_ , I'm fairly certain that 'all's fair in love and war'. And I'm merely returning favors at the moment." He tried to press a kiss to her lips, growling at bit as she turned her head at the last moment and he pressed one into her temple instead. Still ever the tease.

* * *

Julian gets into the tub first. It's nothing fancy like the ones at the palace. A simple washtub that doubles for when they do laundry. One that is shoved away in a corner until needed. The studio room apartment upstairs is nice for them at the moment, but it's not their only residence, just the most convenient in location. The place is cozy and Julian felt more at ease adjusting back into normal, daily things here than elsewhere.

The washtub was circular and simple, hardly fitting anything lower than waist down when Julian sits criss cross in it, but it works for them at the moment. However, only in two different scenarios: one, they each wash separately; two, Julian gets in and she washes him, then gets in with him and allows him to wash her. He could wash her easily in the small space while she would struggle to wash him at all.

With Odelia's magic, things are made easier as for drawing the water and heating it. She places a nice spell on it to leave the water at the steaming hot temperature she and her husband like, letting him add a dash of the _gifted_ (because "They really _were_ , Juli!" "Yes, yes, yes.") bath salts to scent the water before coaxing him in, taking his clothes and folding them as he strips them away piece by piece. He sighs as he slouches in, trying to fit as much as himself into the hot water as he can. He ends up, much to her bemusement, having his legs entirely out of the washtub in favor of submerging his torso in the hot water, arms resting on the rim of the washtub.

"Poor _baby_." His wife teased as she pulled up a small stool to sit behind him, gathering up a few items she'd need to groom him. "Do we need to start inviting ourselves to the palace to take baths?"

"Wait until it's _your_ turn." He grumbled, but heaved a pleased sigh when she tucked a rolled towel under his neck, where a smaller basin sat, and slowly used her magic to wet his hair with hot water.

She ran her fingers through his hair, making sure it was all wet, before reaching for the oils to clean his hair. Vanilla and sweet marjoram, she decides upon getting a low, pleased sounds from her husband when she uses her nails to massage in the oils.

"Keep doing this and I might fall asleep." His voice sounded lower than before. Thicker. Sleepier. Her ministrations were relaxing him.

"My husband? Fall asleep? While I wash his hair? Heaven forbid." She teased, taking her thumbs and rubbing them in gentle firm circles at his temples as she continued to wash his hair.

"I think I've been hoodwinked." There was no venom to his words, only well humored clarity. A lazy smile on his lips.

" _Maybe_. Just a little." She leaned down to kiss his nose. "But I _really_ do want to trim your hair, my dear."

"And I'm not leaving this tub until I get my promised bath with you." His eyes opened to look at her, lids heavy and seemingly weighing down more and more every second he fought to keep them open.

"Then nap for a bit. I'll wake you when I need you to sit up."

"Hm." He closes his eyes and she continues to clean his hair.

It doesn't take too long to wash someone's hair, but Odelia enjoys the peaceful look in his husband's countenance as she washes his, so she takes more time than needed, massaging his scalp and combing his hair with a wide tooth comb until there's no knots before rinsing it. She combs through it one more time before turning and grabbing a towel and wetting it with hot water, wringing it till its damp and hot and, guiding his husband's head back a bit more, wrapping it loosely on his face, making sure he can breathe. She is proud of herself when the actions don't even stir him.

She leaves him be for the moment, focusing on the shaving cream and lathering it up. She had taken the time to make this one from scratch specifically for her husband because she didn't like how the ones that the surgeon-barbers used agitated his skin. He wasn't fragile in any sense of the word, but she had come to realize his skin was extremely sensitive. In more ways than one. His mark use to heal the rash he'd get, but now that it was gone, he was forced to either suffer by his own hand or the barber's product. Both ended up sending her to him, either because he nicked himself or due to a mild rash the soaps the barber used gave him. She decidedly took things into her own hands and _made_ a shaving cream that _didn't_ agitate him.

It was mildly humorous that their local surgeon-barber was at her shoppe now _buying_ the product she had sent with her husband _once_ and now he would use it for all his customers. She gave him a discount for the product in exchange for teaching her how to shave with a straight razor. Julian still went to the barber from time to time for a shave, but Odelia liked doing it when she could. She loved how much her husband trusted her and she really adored doing these things for him.

Once the cream had been properly lathered, she peeled away the hot towel and shook at Julian's shoulder.

"Hm?" His eyes barely opened.

"I'm going to shave you now, no jolting or moving, okay?"

He let out a grunt to let her know he heard her as he closed his heavy lidded eyes again. Odelia tried not to laugh, though a very pleased grin overtook her lips. The fact that he went right back into a doze spoke volumes of his comfort- despite how tiny their washtub was. She used the shaving brush to distribute the lather across her husband's face. She hummed gently as she took her straight blade, of which she had sharpened earlier, and deftly swept it across his epidermis, careful not to nick or cut him as she did. After each sweep of the blade, she rinsed it in the basin she had used to catch the water from washing his hair.

As she was leaning down to wash it after finishing his neck, she heard the quiet mumbles of her husband. "' _m so spoiled._ "

"Good." She would have stolen a kiss from his lips this time, but he was still covered with lather, so she pressed one to his forehead. "I can't be the _only_ spoiled one in this house. Now hush, I can't shave you if you're talking."

"What did I do to ever deserve this?" His mismatched eyes opened and she could see tears prickling in them.

She pressed a firm hold to his jaw to hold his still as she continued to work. She understood that they had married pretty quickly after he had moved in (them waiting and courting, after _everything_ they had gone through, would have been a joke, in her opinion) and, despite all the growth he had shown (and he had grown _a lot_ mentally and emotionally in just those few short weeks), his insecurities still got the better of him at times (understandably though. Vesuvia could not rebuilt in a single day and neither could a man). Odelia had noticed it coming to surface the last few days and was doing her hardest to squash them despite Julian having kept them bottled up. This was him finally, _finally_ talking about it.

"We've had this conversation before, Juli, remember?" She was precise in her shave and leaned down to wash the blade. She still held his jaw in a firm 'do not talk' grip, but they both knew that it didn't stop nonverbal.

"Mmhmm." Her words about their previous conversation didn't stop him from getting more teary or the bob of his throat as he tried to swallow the lump that had formed there. He had been feeling pretty insecure apparently.

"So you'll remember how we agreed that you don't need to deserve things to have them, like love and kindness?" The motions were slowly becoming repetitive and soothing. Shave, rinse, repeat.

"Mhm."

"And you remember how we agreed that _because_ people have hurt you, intentionally or not, in the past that _maybe_ you have a difficult time _seeing_ your own self-worth?"

"...m...hm…"

"So then you also remember that I told you that the part of you that makes me so in love with you is that you are a good, fun, witty, _wonderful_ man that _tries_. You _try_ your _best_ to make things better." Swipe, splash. "You _try_ to help people." Swipe, splash. "You _try_ to be a good lover and brother." Swipe, splash. "You _try_ to be a good doctor." Swipe, splash. "You _try,_ Juli. Do you remember that?"

She removed her fingers from his jaw, having finished shaving his face and he sniffled loudly, nose red and tears slipping down his face. "Y-yes," he croaked.

She took the hot towel and rubbed it across his jaw line, mouth, and neck to remove the excess lather. "Then you certainly remember how I told you how much you try shows. You _do_ make things better. You _do_ help people. You _are_ a good _husband_ and _brother_. And you are certainly more than just a _good_ doctor. You are one of the best. You try. And though it might not always turn out right, you try again, learning from the last time, and you try and try and try."

She set the towel aside, using the calloused pads of her thumbs wipe away her husband's tears that were now flowing freely as he laid there sobbing. He tried to cover his face, but Odelia caught his wrist and pulled it to her face, stroking circles in the delicate underbelly of his wrist, while her other hand still stroked his face. He reached out his other hand to grab her at her palm holding his face and pressed it tightly to his cheek.

"Not everything is going to be perfect, my darling, we _are_ humans after all. We muck things up without even needing _to_ try, but despite your flaws- of which we _all_ have, mind you- you are _good_. Despite what we have already concluded, about you not _needing to deserve things to get them_ , I think you deserve a _lot_ of good things. And since _you_ won't allow yourself most days to have them, to _take_ them, or to _ask_ for them- I must _give_ them to you."

At last Odelia swooped down and placed a kiss on his lips, proceeding from there to kiss the tip of his nose, his forehead, his temples, his hands.

" _M-mysh-ka,_ " He spoke brokenly through a sob. " _M-mozhno m… mne teb... ya o-obnyat'_?"

She was grateful she had kicked off her heels, because she didn't even bother undressing before slipping into the hot water of the washtub and letting her husband hug her tightly to him as he buried his head in her white tresses and sobbed. She hugged him back, only slipping one of her hands under her own skirt to unlatch and toss her now wet prosthetic out of the tub before wrapping her arms around him and laying there in his arms as he cried. She did not hush at him, merely encouraged him to let it all out, holding him firmly as he clutched to her like a lifeline.

" _Idti vpered i plakat'._ " She spoke her best in his mother tongue, but Portia was always teasing her that her dictation was _terrible_.

His body shook and it took her a moment to realize, between sobs, he was laughing at her. Her face turned a brilliant shade of red and she's grateful he's buried his face in her hair so he couldn't see how embarrassed she was. When he felt like he could talk, though his voice was thick and raw from all the crying, he told her, " _myshka, ty takoy milyy_."

"Pasha has told me I'm terrible. I understand it better than I speak it." She tells him, her blush deepening on her face at his words of 'you're so cute'. Her ear tips were probably pink at this point.

He chuckled again, his mood finally improving now that he had gotten a good solid cry. "She's messing with you then, _myshka_. You're really good, actually."

She moved her head, her jaw resting against his chest, to look at his face, to look at him in the eye. "You are shitting me."

"I shit you not. I promise." He had a shaky smile as he peered down at her face that was colored beautifully by embarrassment.

"I _worked_ with her on it for _months_ and the most I ever got her to admit is that I sound like I was extremely inebriated which was extremely better than the ' _village idiot'_ she said I originally sounded like!"

He only laughed, tossing his head back, wincing a little as he hit the rim of the tub, but guffawed loudly at her admission, clutching her tightly as she squirmed unhappily in his arms.

"It's not funny, Ilya! I really thought I was terrible!" She whined. "Oooh! When I see her next, I'm going to-"

He swooped his head back down, tugging her up a bit, not minding as some of the water splashed over the lip of the washtub, and gave her a firm kiss. He broke it only because he was still laughing and couldn't stop completely. "I might have to _thank_ Pasha, _myshka._ " He rubbed his nose against hers. "My darling wife is rather adorable when she's so embarrassed. It's a rare treat for me, seeing as my wife is often unabashed in everything she does."

"You can thank her then, but _I'm_ switching her salt and sugar labels in her kitchen."

"Best not. She _does_ feed us from time to time, Odelia. And Pasha is _very_ creative. Let's not start a prank war with her. It will not end well for _us_. Me especially, I fear."

"Mfph." She sulked, ears still tinted pink, though she wasn't as embarrassed as before. "I'll think of something…"

They laid there for a while before Julian began to wriggle. He unlatched one of his arms from around her, using it to help him sit upright while pulling his legs into the hot water, pulling her into his lap, and tugging at his wife's clothes. "I know I asked for a hug, _myshka_ , but I was expecting you to at least take a moment to undress. You simply plunged right in wearing your dress!"

"I took off my prosthetic…" She mumbled as she pressed her face into his chest, hiding away her sheepish expression.

"Yes, _after_ you got in!" He rubbed her back once before his fingers deftly undid the line of shank buttons down the back of her dress. She let him undress her, even letting him wrap an arm around her waist after he had slid the top half of her long sleeve dress to her hips and maneuver her out of it completely before tossing it out of the tub. She liked how, though he looked like a tall noodle, he was strong enough to pick her up easily with one arm.

"Well, you wanted a hug! I wasn't going to waste time trying to undo everything! You had to help me _into_ the damn dress in the first place!"

"It's a beautiful color on you." He told her unapologetically, slowly undoing the fastenings of her undergarments, lifting her one more time to slip out of the petticoat. He had picked out this dress this morning when she had asked him what _he_ thought she should wear that day.

"I can't reach all the buttons, Julian." She whined, but didn't help him undress her, instead, she reached around him and grabbed the loofah and began to lather it up with the soap she had brought to wash him with.

"I know." He kissed the top of her head while untying her corset. She didn't allow it to be tied tightly by anyone, even him, of which he was grateful.

"And I can't tie up a corset by myself!" She was washing his chest, only pausing when he tugged the corset off over her head before continuing.

"I know." He slipped a thumb under the waistband of her pettipants and maneuvered her a bit to slip them off without having to lift her up again. While she wasn't overweight in the slightest, she wasn't light. She had dense muscles and despite the fact that he _could_ pick her up, didn't mean that it was easy to keep doing. He made a mental note to work on his upper body strength. He loved being able to pick her up at any given moment.

"In fact, you had to help me with my garter too." She was reaching around him now to scrub his back. This is why washing him while in the tub was _hard_.

"Oh, _I know_." He groped her ass, unhitching the straps that kept her stockings and garter safely in place before slowly pulling all of it off her sole foot, palm never leaving the skin of her leg.

She shivered against him at his conspicuous actions, eliciting a surprised yelp from him when she quickly pulled the loofah between them and washed his belly firmly. He chuckled as he pinched her ass, eliciting a shrill squeal from her.

"You _tease_!" She accused him, smacking him playfully with the loofah, suds flying up from the action.

"You teased first." He told her. He tugged her chemise upwards and over her head, forcing her out of it. He laughed. "Goodness, how many _layers_ do you even have _on_?!"

"You _dressed me,_ Juli." She said in exasperation. "You tell _me_."

"Well, I like my presents all nicely wrapped up." He leaned his head down to nip at her shoulder. "It makes it more exciting to unwrap."

"Or frustrating." She told him, leaning up and taking a nice hard bite at where slope of his neck and the line of his shoulder junctioned together, making his jaw on her neck slack as he mewled at the sensation. She had learned pretty early on that this spot was the best way to leave him slack jawed and powerless to move. She released the spot after a moment or two, admiring her work before washing the loofa over it.

"Th-that's so _dirty_ of you." He whined dramatically as he pulled her against himself, face into his chest to prevent her from doing that again. His chest was heaving with how much that one move had aroused him. "W-We haven't even gotten… to where… _I_ wash _you…_ and… _and_ you're r-rile m-me up? K-keep this up and, ah, I won't last!"

"Then stop taking forever to undress me!" She retorted impishly, taking the loofah and causing him to squirm as she rubbed it against his one of his very ticklish sides. His fingers moved to her sides and she squealed and squirmed, splashing water about and she tried to escape his tickling, even abandoning the loofah to tickle his sides, but he used one of his much bigger hands to snatch up her wrists and held them out as he mercilessly tickled her.

Their goals forgotten in the thrill of the moment.

* * *

"I told you I knew how that bath would end." The two of them were now using the spare towels to soak up the water on the floor.

"We've been meaning to mop the floor for a while." He told her, laughing at her sulking form.

"I wasn't planning on doing it tonight!"

"But you're an absolute vision cleaning in nothing but your skin, _myshka_."

"Yes, yes, on hands and knee on the ground." She snorted, tossing the towel into the emptied washtub. She'd do the washing _tomorrow_.

"I'm pretty sure you've confess that it's your favorite vision of _me_."

Her ocher colored eyes landed on his form, humming as she accessed him. He blushed a bit, but there was that handsome, playful grin on his face as he wagged his eyebrows flirtatiously. She got up, balancing easily on her one good leg. Her strong, practiced muscles keeping her from wobbling without a second leg to steady on. Her attention no longer on him as she answered.

"I guess." He sputtered at her nonchalance, his face flaring up even more when she added. "You'd look even prettier with a collar. I'll have to make you one."

" _Ohfuck_." He quickly threw a hand around his mouth and looked away from her. His ears were a brilliant red and his chest was heaving.

She peered over at him, a false coy smile on her lips. "Do you _not_ want one?"

"No! Yes? Wait, no! _Imeanyes_! _Yes_!" He whipped his head around so fast she swore she heard it snap. His whole face was a brilliant color and his hand that had been covering his lower face was now waving about wildly. " _Yes_ , I _want_ one! Oh Odelia. _Please_!"

She laughed at him, swooping down elegantly on her sole leg and plucking up her prosthetic. "I'm glad you're feeling better, Juli. Now, before I play with you, I still want to cut your hair and feed you. Can you _wait_ that long for me, my darling husband?"

" _Yes_." He heaved breathlessly, trying to compose himself. "I'll happily do anything for you, _myshka_. I can wait. I can. _Anything for you._ "

"Good." She stood upright when her prosthetic was reattached and walked over to their dresser and tugged out a shirt- his shirt- to wear for the time being, tossing him nothing but his small clothes for the time being. "Grab a stool when you're dressed, will you darling?"

She swore he never moved faster. He was sitting in a chair faster than she could get her barber comb and hair shears. Odelia laughed at his enthusiasm, but didn't comment, knowing any more foreplay and dinner she had been stewing all day would be skipped. So she instead stood behind Julian and inspected his hair, decided how to go about trimming it without making a mess of it. His hair had dried, so she quickly wet it again by combing her fingers through his hair, magicking the water between her fingers. She took their last semi dry down to wring the excess before she began.

She took the comb to it, brushing it out as far as she could, gently tugging the comb until she accessed how it had been cut previously.

"Julian, darling, when's the last time you _had_ your hair cut?"

"I, uh, I, ummm…" He couldn't actually recall the date. It had been getting in his way and he snipped at it, like usual, until it wasn't.

"Please tell me you went to the barber?"

"Alright, I went to the barber." He told her, throwing in, "For a shave."

"Juuuliiiii~" She groaned. "No more cutting it yourself. It's a miracle it's not bad."

"Oh, it was _terrible_ , _myshka_ , but you were on that long trip and by the time you got back-"

"No more cutting it yourself!" She couldn't bear to hear such horrible things. "This is my pleasure now, understand?"

Julian laughed at her, blushing a bit at her words. "Yes _myshka_."

She began to comb his hair again. Trimming here and there, making spots that were uneven even and feathering other areas, like she had been taught years ago. She had gone and learned how to cut hair when Asra was still her mentor. His hair had been so shaggy and in _need_ of a haircut _often_ she had traded away some good sleep aid to a skilled housewife whose, sons, daughters, and husband always had the best trimmed hair for lessons on how _she_ cut hair. The barber was good and all, but the housewife's skill had been _way_ better.

She hummed as she cut, the gentle sounds of the shears' metal creating friction with each snip was calming. The whole act of trimming his hair was cathartic and soothing to her, especially how Julian's shoulders relaxed more and more. She had to reset his head in the position she wanted a few times, eliciting unneeded apologies each time from him for unconsciously moving, but as long as he didn't jerk suddenly, she didn't mind having to readjust.

 _Snip. Snip. Snip._ She tousled his hair a few times, combing it to gage her work before continuing on.

"I'm going to fall asleep at this rate." Julian warned her after a while.

"Don't you dare." _Snip. Snip. Snip._ "I'm about to cut around your ears and if you nod off and jerk in any way, I could _seriously_ hurt you, my darling dear." _Snip. Snip._ "Tell me about your day."

So he did. Starting with how many patients he had that day, mentioning a few of their afflictions, and about the medical journal he had been reading between clients. It was one of the ones she had managed to fetch him from the palace that Dr. Satrinava had accidentally left behind (or so she told Julian because Nazali had left it as a gift for him and he had still been hesitant about accepting gifts of any sort at that time). By the time he had finished telling her about how his day had gone, Odelia was mussing up his hair one last time, proudly inspecting it. She was now circling around him, mussing it up in spots, to make sure everything looked well kept but still distinctly Julian.

"Well, am I your dashing rogue again, _myshka_?" He threw her one of his smiles, arching a brow as he watched her appraise him.

She leaned in, resting her hands on his long legs, kissing him on the lips. "Very dashing, my _roguish_ husband."

He leaned in to steal another kiss and she jerked her head, his lips kissing her in the corner of her grinning lips. He growled, tossing his arms around her and pulling her onto his lap. "Stop teasing."

"But you're such a fun person to tease!" She was laughing, reaching behind him to set the shears and comb on the nearest surface she could. Julian took advantage of moment to pepper the valley of her breasts with kisses, groaning his appreciation that his shirt billowed in such a way that he had a perfect view of her toffee pigmented skin and all the freckles that decorated her body. He whined a bit as she settled back down into his lap, but quickly swooped in to kiss her neck, her jaw, and finally capture her lips.

She reciprocated eagerly, pleased as he used his tongue to tease hers, encouraging her to play. Their hands wandered freely, combing through hair, groping soft, pliant flesh, tweaking skin between fingers to cause the other to gasp little moans into the others mouth. They broke for air after a while, chests heaving, lips swollen, skin flushed with attention. Odelia moved her palm to firmly rub his arousal a bit, earning the sweetest whimper from him before kissing his cheek.

"Dinner." She slid out of his grip before he could think of caging her in his arms.

"Y-You're such a… a t-tease!" With how pliant he had gone, she was surprised he hadn't fallen off the stool without her body to support his.

"Dinner first!" She was already in the small kitchen area, standing on the tips of her toes to stir the pot. "I have been smelling it all day and I worked too hard to skip it! We are eating it- even if I must spoon feed you your every bite!" She turned to look at him. He was still so flustered by her last brazen move and he looked disappointed at having to wait, so she decided to add. "Besides, your going to _need_ the energy for what I have planned for dessert, _moy sladkiy pirog._ "

" _Oh myshka_!"

**Author's Note:**

> So it was said that Julian likes to think up new pet names every day for his significant other. For this story, it's myshka- little mouse. She calls him at the end 'moy sladkiy pirog'- my sweet cake.
> 
> Yes, in my stories he will switch over into Russian from time to time. If there's anything I don't outright say what was said, I'll post it down here properly. I know that most people don't think of it, but Nevivion is his homeland and they spoke their own language. When he's tired or can't think, he's not going to speak in Vesuvian, he's going to speak his mother tongue. He's multilingual, after all.
> 
> For the most part, there's nothing really important that was said. Julian asks for a hug, Odelia tells him to go ahead and cry and he tells her that she's too cute.
> 
> I would love feedback.
> 
> Have a wonderful day.


End file.
